


Photos

by Curse_my_sarcastic_nature



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Lazarus Pit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27739429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curse_my_sarcastic_nature/pseuds/Curse_my_sarcastic_nature
Summary: There, on the first page there was a picture of a baby.“Why would Ra’s have a picture of a baby?”“This is Ra’s’?”“Hey, that looks like Damian!” Dick exclaimed.Tim looked at the picture again, and it did indeed look like Damian.OrBruce goes to the league for a recon mission, and accidentally finds photos of a baby Damian.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Damian Wayne
Comments: 28
Kudos: 476





	Photos

Batman glared down at the computer as if the intensity of his look would make it go faster.

It didn’t go faster.

His head turned again to glance at exit. He knew it wouldn’t be long before Ra’s realised he was here. Every now and then he would check on the League of Assassins to see if anything was planned, and there had been rumours going around that something big was going down.

Usually he would just hack from the batcomputer, but he wanted to be sure. The loading symbol went around in a loop once more, and Batman’s frustration grew. You’d think that being an extremely powerful and rich person, you would have fast technology, but no. It was probably because Ra’s paranoid and very, very old.

Finally the screen opened and he was immediately downloading everything on the computer. There was a clang from behind him as the door was thrown open and into the wall. The assassin looked in at the door and muttered something in Arabic before looking up at Batman in what could only be surprise.

The assassin started to yell, only to be cut off by a dart injected into the side of his neck. He slumped to the ground in a awkward position, one that would leave him stiff when he woke up. Batman scowled, Ra’s would now know he had been here.

Behind him the computer let out a ping. It was time to leave.

* * *

Tim hummed as he clicked into the next file and started working on the encryption. Bruce loomed over the chair from behind him.

“Bruce, you’ve been back for half and hour. Go take a break already.” Dick called from where Cass and him were sparring.

“Yeah, you brooding is not helping me decode these files. Ra’s was very cautious when making them and it’s gonna take a while.”

Bruce grunted, then pulled the cowl off. His face softened as he looked at Tim.

“Fine. But tell me as soon as you’re done.”

Tim gave an affirming hum and his fingers clattered over the keyboard once again. Bruce trudged over time the changing rooms, his boots purposely making noise as he walked.

Tim lost himself working on the files. It seemed Ra’s, while he did have the beginnings of ideas, didn’t actually have any plans to put into play. There was a rhythmic ‘whump’ of either Dick or Cass being thrown onto the training mats as they sparred, occasionally trading a quip or giving little pieces of advice in the background.

Tim sighed and clicked on another file, just as Duke, Steph and Jason pulled up in the cave in a barge of bright colourful noise. They chatted as they walked into the changing rooms, relaying the events of patrol to Dick as he asked.

“And then we once we beat down a couple of druggies, we got ice cream!” Steph cheered.

Dick gave her a look of faux jealousy and Cass showed a soft smile reserved for rare moments.

“Hey Timbers, what’s that?”

“Hmm? Oh I’m just decoding something for Bruce.”

“No, I mean who’s that?”

Tim gave Jason a look of confusion and looked back to the screen. There, on the first page there was a picture of a baby.

“Why would Ra’s have a picture of a baby?”

“This is Ra’s’?”

“Hey, that looks like Damian!” Dick exclaimed.

Tim looked at the picture again, and it did indeed look like Damian. He scrolled down to the text where it said ‘ _Damian aged six months._ ’ He looked through the file some more and it seemed that there was a photo of Damian every few months of his life.

“Hey B, come look at this!” Bruce turned from where he was putting away his gear. He gave a slow blink when he turned around.

“Is that...”

“Yeah, it’s Damian when he was a baby! It looks like Talia had photos and stuff documented down.”

Bruce came over and looked at the screen.

“Wasn’t he cute?”

A small smile formed on Bruce’s face and he gave a little nod. In the picture Damian was sleeping on his back, a blanket wrapped around him. Tim was glad the boy in question was staying with Jon for the night, he would be embarrassed if he knew what they were looking at.

Tim clicked onto the next page which showed Damian at one years old, grasping onto a green skirt covering brown slender legs that could have only been Talia’s. Dick cooed and Jason gave a laugh.

“I knew Talia was busy when I was with the league, but I had no idea this was what she was doing.”

Tim slowly clicked through the pictures. One of Damian with his first sword, one of him in a battle against a girl around his age. Everyone showed different emotions through the pictures, most agreeing that Damian was very cute. The whole time Bruce has a small smile on his face and didn’t say a word.

The pictures weren’t really in an order, such as going from one the day before he left for Gotham to one when he was three. Tim clicked onto the next picture. The caption read ‘ _Damian aged 4 and five months._ ’

Tim’s breath hitched. There was something different about this photo. In this one, Damian seemed a little confused and was staring out into the distance. And his eyes, they were a raging green. Much brighter than Tim had ever seen them.

Tim’s eyes widened as he realised something. He clicked back three photos and there it was. He went back again. And again and again and again. He felt his chest getting heavier and his breaths getting quicker.

Behind him complaints came as they went back to the photos they had already seen.

“Hey Timmy, why are we going back? We’ve already seen these photos.”

A weird giggle came from his throat. He was going to _kill_ those bastards. Bruce looked down at him with concern.

“Tim? Are you okay?”

Was he okay? Was _he_ okay? Shouldn’t they be asking Damian? Then he realised that the others hadn’t seen what he was looking at yet.

Tim let out a shaky breath. “His eyes... oh god, look at his eyes.”

Steph gave him a confused look. “His eyes? What about- oh. They’re brown. Why are they brown? Aren’t they green?”

Tim gave a shaky nod then clicked back through the pictures of Damian aged below 4 years and 5 months. All of them he had brown eyes.

The silence was deafening when he turned onto the photo he had realised that something was different. The photo where Damian was confused, and slightly angry, he realised. The photo where he seemed lost. The photo his eyes were that bright, yet dark, green.

“What... why are they brown then green?”

“Those fuckers!” Jason snarled. “Am I right about what you’re implying?”

“You think that they put Damian in the pit.”

Bruce twitched when Tim nodded. He flicked to the next photo. Damian was 8 and standing on a sand dune. Tim clicked past two more pictures (each with brown eyes) when they came upon a page full of records.

_4 years and 4 months: Damian wasn’t able to hold his own against his trainer when she was ordered to not hold back. Injuries were severe enough for the pit. We shall have to retrain him in evasive manoeuvres._

_6 years and 9 months: Damian was sent out into the desert to find three destinations. After no contact for 3 days a search group was sent out. He had died approximately 3 hours before they found him of heatstroke and dehydration. We have found a trainer that specialises in survival tactics and endurance for him._

_7 years and 5 months: Damian was slain by his cousin Mara. His blades trainer has been disposed of and we have acquired one with more skill and strictness._

_9 years and 3 months: Damian was tasked with defending Ra’s from a task force of assassins. He killed all but one, who got to Ra’s before the Ra’s eliminated him. As punishment Ra’s killed Damian. We shall intensify his stealth training._

_It appears because of his bloodline having used the Lazarus Pit multiple times, he already has it’s waters in his blood. The madness does not afflict him, but he still receives the same intense amounts of pain._

Tim slowly exhaled, rage boiling underneath his skin. The others looked murderous, Bruce downright fuming.

“I’m going to kill them.” Tim turned to look at Dick, not surprised at his words.

Jason snorted with anger whirled around, stalked over to the punching bags and attacked them with fury.

Cass stood quietly as Steph leaned in to her, staring up and the screen horror.

Duke gave a lost look at everyone in the room before shaking his head and turning to the training dummies.

Tim’s mind raced a mile a minute as pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. Damian’s behaviour when he first came to Gotham made sense. And to think, that he had been put into the pit not even 8 months before he came, yet none of them had noticed.

“I’m going to patrol,” Bruce hissed and stiffly went to put on his gear again.

Bruce needed to hit things, Tim could tell. To get his anger out. That was okay. Tim needed to as well.

* * *

Damian waved to Jon as he was dropped off. He got a grin in return before the boy turned and flew away. They technically weren’t supposed to use his powers for things like that, especially if Damian was a civilian, but no one was around to see.

He let himself down into the cave, where the atmosphere was tense. Todd was panting heavily as he attacked the punching bags. Both Grayson and Father were getting ready to patrol. Thomas and Brown were sparring, Cain and Drake looking at surveillance on the computer.

It seemed like there had been an argument, but if there had been then someone would have stormed out.

Damian huffed and plodded over to his costume. He started pulling it on over his under-suit, the pieces of armour sliding into place and adding extra weight to his body.

“Have you finished preparing to let leave yet, Father?”

“Not yet, Damian.”

He gave a little humph and sat down next to Drake. He was given a once-over by both of his siblings at the computer. He turned to the screen but he felt their eyes lingering on him.

“Let’s go, Robin,” Father called as he pulled the cowl over his head.

Damian gave a nod and strode over to the batmobile. He opened the door, only to be stopped by Grayson.

“Wait, maybe you shouldn’t patrol today,” he blurted.

“Why would I not?”

“I don’t know, maybe...”

“Exactly, I am as capable as usual and there is no current major threat to the planet. I see no reason to avoid patrolling?”

Grayson let out a puff of air. “Just, be careful, okay?”

Damian tilted his head. Grayson was acting quite strange. He was usually never this overprotective.

“Very well,” he sighed before turning and hopping into the car. Batman got in beside him and they sped off into the night.

During the hours he spent out that night, his siblings seemed much more cautious with him. They checked in nearly every ten minutes, always asking if he was alright, even when he was doing nothing but sitting on a roof waiting for something to happen. His Father kept blocking punches and fighting Damian’s fights for him.

At first he thought it was because they assumed he could not perform as well as he usually could. It would match up with Grayson asking him to not go out. He quickly ruled this out, remembering the time he had been Grayson’s Robin and they had taken a day off to recover after a particularly tiring patrol the night before.

He had been argumentative, thinking that Grayson was keeping him in for incompetence, but the older man had caught on and explained that he didn’t just want them to over work themselves, and that people looking after you wasn’t bad.

So he allowed his family to obsess over his well-being, only arguing back when they got to confining or to sappy. He did have a reputation to uphold, after all.

But it was nice to know that people cared for him.

**Author's Note:**

> And then Damian interrogates then all the next day to find out why they were all so nervous. Duke is the one to crack and ends up telling. 
> 
> Inspired by a hc made by @batshit-birds  
> https://batshit-birds.tumblr.com/
> 
> Come talk to me at me tumblr!  
> https://thesporklecat.tumblr.com/


End file.
